Sunday, August 02, 2015, 3:25 p.m.

Super Bowl power failure traced to faulty device blackout

NEW ORLEANS  The Superdome’s power company took the blame Friday for the Super Bowl blackout, saying the cause was a faulty device that had been installed in its switching gear to prevent a failure of electric cables leading to the stadium.

Officials of Entergy New Orleans, a subsidiary of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., said the device, called a relay, had been installed to protect the Superdome from a cable failure between the company’s incoming power line and lines that run into the stadium.

Company officials said the device performed without problem during January’s Sugar Bowl and other earlier events.

They said the device has been removed and replacement equipment will be installed.

The power failure at Sunday’s big game cut lights to about half of the stadium for 34 minutes, halting play between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.

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In the beginning Entergy DENIED it was their fault; now they say it WAS their fault. How can we trust them, especially considering they're the electric company HERE also?.(No, Snabe; even Entergy isn't stupid enough to carry out a shutoff notice on the Superdome DURING the Super Bowl.)